''Astrocaryum'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of about 36Kew Palms Checklist: ''Astrocaryum''
/ref> to 40 species of

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

s native to Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

Description

''Astrocaryum'' is a genus of spiny palms with

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and in ...

ly compound leaves–rows of leaflets emerge on either side of the axis of the leaf in a feather-like or fern-like pattern. Some species are single-stemmed, while others grow in multi-stemmed (

caespitose This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

) clumps. They are pleonanthic—they flower repeatedly over the course of their lifespan—and monoecious, meaning that there are separate male and female flowers, but individuals plants bear both types of flowers.

Taxonomy

History

The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

, ''Astrocaryum aculeatum'', was first described by German botanist

Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) George is a surname of Irish, English, Welsh, South Indian Christian, Middle Eastern Christian (usually Lebanese), French, or ...

in 1818 based on a specimen from the

Essequibo River The Essequibo River ( Spanish: ''Río Esequibo'' originally called by Alonso de Ojeda ''Río Dulce'') is the largest river in Guyana, and the largest river between the Orinoco and Amazon. Rising in the Acarai Mountains near the Brazil–Guyana b ...

in Guyana.

Species

One well known member of the genus is ''

Astrocaryum vulgare ''Astrocaryum vulgare'' is a very spiny palm native to the Guianas and the Amazon. It is species which has greatly benefited from deforestation, as it cannot grow in undisturbed rainforest. In Brazil it is considered typical of Pará state in the ...

'', typical in the

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana ...

state of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. '' Astrocaryum mexicanum'', a common palm of the Caribbean coast of Central America, is known as ''warree cohune'' in

, as its spines are said to resemble the bristles of the white-lipped peccary or ''warree''.

Uses

The fruit and seeds of several species are used for human food, oil production and fish bait. Leaves are used as a source of fibre and stems as building material. Species are also used medicinally and as a source of palm heart.

References

Arecaceae genera Neotropical realm flora {{Cocoseae-stub